Ex-SEALs in Congress get behind a bill to fund psychedelic research
The Douglas "Mike" Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act would allocate $75 million to help struggling servicemembers
Navy SEAL Mike Day and was shot 27 times during a raid to take out a high-level al Qaida cell in Fallujah, Iraq and miraculously survived. Day became a legend in the SEAL community because he kept going and killed four enemy. But he lost the battle to a different kind of enemy and killed himself earlier this year.
Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican and former Navy SEAL, unveiled a bill named in Day’s honor, The Douglas “Mike” Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act of 2023.
"Why am I pushing for this? Because it works. And as Mike’s widow Brenda would attest to, it could have saved Mike’s life," Crenshaw said at an emotional press conference in Washington this week.
Crenshaw’s bill would allocate $75 million for psychedelic research on active-duty servicemembers who are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), and the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. A similar bill Crenshaw introduced last year passed the House but died in the Senate.
Crenshaw was joined at a press conference by Marcus Capone, an ex-SEAL breacher with Team Six. Capone and his wife run Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions (VETS), a Texas not-for-profit that funds psychedelic research to help veterans deal with psychic wounds.
Capone deployed seven times but his wife, Amber, says she was more worried about losing him to suicide back home than to combat overseas. “For myself, many of my former teammates and countless veterans in the VETS program there’s nothing more effective than psychedelic-assisted therapies,” Capone says.
Capone was instrumental in helping my friend, former SEAL Dan Cerrillo, get the psychedelic therapy that changed his life.
In 2018, Cerrillo took ibogaine, a compound derived from a West African shrub, and DMT, a powerful psychedelic known as the “God molecule,” at a clinic in Baja California, Mexico. Crenshaw’s bill would fund research into both of those compounds as well as MDMA (ecstasy) and psylocibin, a psychoactive compound found in mushrooms. Cerrillo died in April of a heart attack at age 50.
Jonathan Lubecky, an Army veteran, credits psychedelic treatment with saving his life. “If I hadn't gone through it, my son would have a folded flag, and instead, he has a father. I think we need more mothers and fathers and less folded flags,” he said.
There has been a quiet epidemic of suicides among Navy SEALs. Suicide rates among special operations forces were the highest in the military and higher than that of the general population, according to a study by Special Operations Command.
The study examined 29 cases in detail. Almost all had some form of PTSD or emotional trauma following deployment. In a dozen cases, the deceased had shared with loved ones the traumatic experiences they had experienced on deployment. These included being under enemy fire and watching fellow soldiers die in roadside bomb blasts, as well as killing enemy soldiers and animals, witnessing or participating in detainee torture and death, and missions that went against their ethical beliefs.
Psychedelic therapies hold a great deal of promise, but the legacy of the War on Drugs means veterans have to leave the country to use them. DMT, ibogaine, MDMA and psylocibin are tightly controlled under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. They are all Schedule I substances, alongside heroin and fentanyl. The law says all drugs in this category have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use, despite findings that found MDMA was “highly efficacious” in people with severe PTSD. Crenshaw’s bill creates an exemption to allow SEALs and other servicemembers to participate in research.
Rep. Morgan Luttrell, a former SEAL and a co-sponor of the bill, credited ibogaine and DMT with saving both his life and his marriage. “It’s one of the greatest things that ever happened to me,” said Luttrell, who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a helicopter crash in 2009. His brother, Marcus, the subject of the book and movie, Lone Survivor, also went through the treatment.
Crenshaw’s bill has bipartisan co-sponsors, including both Matt Gaetz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Derrick F. Van Orden and Ryan Zinke, two other ex-SEALs in Congress, have also signed on.
“I’m tired of veterans having to come up here and spill their guts,” Crenshaw said. “They shouldn’t have to tell us anymore. We should do something about it.”
If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.